A localization expert can modify an application for numerous reasons, such as, to make the application more useful for a larger audience, to make the application more applicable to a different culture, to account for differences in distinct markets, etc. The application may be modified by modifying a resource such as a text string, color and style settings, image and style icon files, sound files, etc. For example, software originally designed for the United States market may generate an error message containing a text string in English if a user clicks a specific button within the software. A localization expert may localize the error message such that a Chinese speaking user in the Chinese market may be able to understand the localized error message in a similar way that an English speaking user in the United States market understands the original message. Accordingly, the same or similar software can be used by a larger number of users.
The localization expert may require context data regarding the application to provide a localization. Without sufficient context data, the localization provided by the expert may not be correct for the application as the meaning of the resource to be localized may be ambiguous. For example, if the localization expert is only given a list of the resources to be translated from one language to another, the translation provided by the expert may not accurately reflect the meaning of the original resources. More specifically, if the application contains multiple resources with the phrase “Enter”, a localization expert with only a list of the resources to be localized may not be able to distinguish between the “Enter” which requires pressing the Enter Key and “Enter” which grants a user access to a portion of the resource.
Multiple localization experts may localize an application simultaneously. However, receiving multiple localizations from multiple localization experts in a non-centralized manner can be time consuming and expensive, especially due to the lack of communication between the various users involved with the localization process.
Accordingly, there is a need for providing context data regarding the application to one or more localizations experts. More specifically, there is a need for providing context data regarding the application to multiple users to synchronize the localization process.